For this short trip, we decided to do no planning whatsoever, book the flights, book a place to stay and leave it at that. We booked no fancy restaurants in advance, nor did we book any of the popular attractions or investigate any day trips. Our plan was to rock up, join the line and hope we could get in.
Our trip was twofold really, one, visit a city we’d not been to before, the other meet up with friends in Madrid.
Orange Tree Seville
Our flight out of Dublin was delayed by about 40 minutes, not too bad, so by the time we got to Seville airport, grabbed a bus to the centre and got to our hotel, it was near 6:00pm. We were staying at the very central Hotel Rey Alfonso X, a great location, less than a five minute walk to Seville’s major attraction, the Cathedral, the largest gothic church in the world, don’t you know.
After checking out the room, we wasted no time and headed up to the rooftop bar and pool area. We ordered some drinks and just two tapas to get things stared, a spinach and chickpea nibble and who can pass up some Ibérico ham. The view from the rooftop was impressive, the pool was small but looked inviting.
After a nibble and a drink we hit the town, first stop was a popular spot called Las Teresas, it was full to bursting so we decided to wander around and get our bearings, with a plan to return later, which we did and managed to get two seats at the counter. More Ibérico ham, along with Russian salad, some prawns and potato salad, all very tasty and washed down with a glass of wine and a beer, the price, less than €2, fantastic value. Of course, as if this was not enough, we headed to another tapas bar, more food and a drink. This unfortunately was more of a tourist joint, the food was disappointing, but, the wine and beer were fine. So far, not a bad start to the trip 🙂
The following morning, we opted to have breakfast in the hotel, not a great choice, but it sufficed. The plan was to hit the Seville Cathedral, we got there around 10:15am and already the line was long, but we joined anyhow. It opens at 11:00am and once opened we were in within 15 minutes. Once inside, it’s impressive, vast would be putting it mildly. While there are several dozen, stained glass windows, altars, choir pulpits and artworks, the main attraction is the burial place of a guy called Christopher Columbus, you may have heard of him 🙂
The other highlight is a walk up the main tower, which takes about five minutes, it’s all uphill but no steps until the very last part, so it’s an easy climb and worth it for the fantastic views of the city. As an optional extra you can book a tour of the roof, we were going to do this, but it was booked out, however we felt after visiting the top of the tower, this more than made up for not visiting the roof.
The Cathedral takes several hours to really appreciate so by the time we left, lunch was well overdue, so it was a late lunch, which we enjoyed in a place called Mamarracha, the food, tapas again of course, were really good. We’d some chicken served with a chilli salsa, some smoked aubergine, more Russian salad, green salad, sweet potato all with a glass of wine and a beer. This is the great thing about tapas, you can have several different dishes at a time, it’s great.
After lunch we did a little window shopping before heading back to the hotel to rest up for a little.
As the evening rolled around, we headed towards the Metropol Parasol, one of the more controversial attractions Seville has to offer. It’s also known as the floating mushrooms and the entire thing, is made of wood, which as it turns out is the largest manmade wooden structure in the World.
Mushroom from top 
Mushroom from ground
At only 3 euro for a visit per person, which also includes a free drink (sort of), it’s well worth seeing. Once on top, it offers fantastic 360 degree views of Seville from various angles and as it was late evening, all the spires of the churches were lit up, it was great to see.
After it was time for more food, we opted for a random place which just happened to be around the corner from our hotel called La Bartola and even after 9:00pm in the evening, there was a line to get in, so we joined. Our wait was well rewarded, the food was fantastic. We had some calamari, pork cheeks, steak, a concoction of aubergine, olives and capers which was really tasty and a few other tapas, we also finished with a dessert of tiramisu, yes more Italian than Spanish, but it was very tasty.
The following morning we decided to forego the breakfast in the hotel and hit the streets, by chance the previous evening we spotted a place called Filo, which advertised some very nice looking breakfast options, so we headed here. I opted for the eggs Florentine, C opted for the healthy tomato bread with avocado, all with freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee, it was all very tasty and great value.
Our first planned stop for the day was the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, but there was a huge queue so we decided to wander across the river to the visit the less visited side of the city. This side of the river is a lot less touristy, so it was nice to wander and do a little window shopping. We crossed back over further down the river which brought us to the Estanque de Los Lotos park and the magnificent Plaza de España. This was a fantastic urban park for walking, cycling or just hanging out.
Once finished in the park, we headed back to the Alcázar de Sevilla, the line was a lot shorter and we were waiting no more than 10 minutes to get in. The grounds and gardens are fantastic, loads of orange trees, a cool maze and loads of water features, well worth a visit.
As evening rolled around, we had decided to treat ourselves and headed towards the 5 star Alfonso XIII hotel (not related to our hotel in any way). After having a cocktail in the bar, we dined around a fantastic courtyard, the service was very good and the food pretty good too, nothing amazing, but enjoyable. However, a surprise highlight was the piano player, all the music he played was soundtracks from movies and TV, it was fun trying to figure out the pieces of music. On a side note, there was also some C-list celebrity from a soap opera dining, but the piano guy was far more interesting J.
The following morning, we went back to Filo for breakfast, which was fab, our plan for the day was to visit the town of Santaponce, about a 45 minute bus ride out of Seville to visit the ancient Roman sites of Italica. The town is nothing to write home about and most visitors are here just to visit the ruins. It takes about three hours to see the site, with the ancient amphitheatre been the main highlight. To finish we took in the audiovisual presentation, before hopping back on the bus for the trip back.
For lunch we went to a highly recommended place called La Brunilde, which is at the forefront of a modern take on tapas. Even at near 3:00pm, late for lunch, the place was full but thankfully we had no more than a 10 minute wait.
We ordered a chicken salad, which was outstanding, yes, I know, it’s just a chicken salad but it was delicious. This followed by the classic patatas bravas, which again were fantastic. We also had duck confit, Ibérico steaks and some sweet potato, all really good. C had an espresso to finish.
After lunch we wandered the shopping streets and took in a few of the minor sites to visit (there’s loads to see in Seville). We had also decided as it was out last evening, we booked Mamarracha tapas bar where we had lunch a few days previous.
We returned to our hotel and as it was already late in the evening we had about an hour to relax before hitting the town. We started the evening at the EMC rooftop bar, we had tried to get in a few days previous but it was full, thankfully this time around, we got in. It offers fantastic views of the Cathedral and the rest of the city. We had just the one drink then we headed towards a less tourist part of the city, just to have a drink in some random local bar. After our drink we headed toward Mamarracha for dinner. Again the food was fantastic, I won’t go into the details, but needless to say, we ordered too much food – as it’s just so good J
The next morning we got up early and again went to Filo for breakfast. We returned to our hotel, checked out and grabbed a cab to take us to the Santa Justa station, to catch our train to Madrid.
The train journey was very comfortable and super-fast hitting speeds of 300kmph, we had also booked 1st class, so food and drinks are included in the cost. The two and a half hour journey to Madrid flew by and before long we were on our way to our hotel, smack bang in the middle of Madrid.
For our short stay we’re staying at the Hotel Urban, which is just a two minute walk to the Sol metro station, however, the main reason for us been back in Madrid is to catch up with some friends.
The hotel was fantastic, it has and award winning bar, which serves all seafood, which we went with for our lunch option, it was fab. It also has a Michelin star restaurant Cebo, serving all Mediterranean inspired fare. There’s a rooftop bar and plunge pool, but were closed at the time due to renovations.
For our evening meal, we went to the recommended La Cabaña steak restaurant. The food was nothing special, but the portions were huge. Both of us went with steak for mains, C’s was nicer than mine as I’d gone for the “bigger” option, the problem, when cooking over hot coals, your never really going to get a good “seal” on the steak, so mine was nothing special. We should have dined elsewhere and stuck with tapas 🙂
The next day we met up with friends of ours. We had a splendid day, wandering around parts of Madrid that most tourists would not get to visit. We visited two small museums, the Sorolla museum and the Chamberi Ghost station which were great.
That evening we visited the Mercado de San Miguel, which is a fantastic indoor market place. It’s always busy with locals and visitors. You can bounce from one food stall to another, trying everything from sushi, tacos, pasties, mini sandwiches and so on. There’s also plenty of bars serving wine, beer and cocktails. We decided to just have one nibble each, as it was early and we’d yet to decide on a plan for dinner. I opted for a spiced curry chicken taco, C opted for the mushroom and pork pastie, both were tasty and great value.
For dinner we went to a place called, La Finca de Susana, another “recommended” place. By far and away, some of the worst food we’ve ever had. Although it did not really spoil our evening, we were hungry and if you’re hungry, you’ll eat up, shut up and then leave. We really should have left as when we entered, the place is huge and not what we had pictured. As we were seated near the kitchen, I spotted photos on the wall, of the food and how it should look on a plate………. Enough said really.
So the following day, it was time to leave, we did a little window shopping then got the bus to the airport for the flight home.
We had a great few day’s on this short trip, we’ll certainly get back to Seville at a later date.
Bye for now,
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 